Erica Weiss News

Route 66 Theatre Company is pleased to present the Chicago premiere of Cicada, by Jerre Dye, directed by Route 66 Theatre Company's Associate Artistic Director, Erica Weiss. This coming of age ghost story deeply rooted in the life of a small southern family on the verge of transformation plays April 9 - May 25, 2014 at Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N Lincoln Avenue in Chicago.

Chicago's original anti-Valentine's Day cabaret, Letters/X, opens an all-new production at the Apollo Studio in Lincoln Park tonight, February 6.

Chicago's original anti-Valentine's Day cabaret, Letters/X, opens an all-new production at the Apollo Studio in Lincoln Park on February 6. Now in its eleventh year, Letters/X is based entirely on actual letters, emails, text messages, Facebook posts, and other ephemera submitted by the public. Chicago playwright and musician Anthony Roberts adapts the submissions into a script and writes original songs based on the material. The 2014 score includes seven brand new songs.

A new crop of local talent joins Goodman Theatre's artistic team for the 2013/2014 Season. The four Chicago-based writers named to the fourth season of the Playwrights Unit-a year-long residency program designed to support and develop new works-include Andrew Hinderaker, Gift Theatre ensemble member; Mickle Maher, cofounder of Theater Oobleck; Anne Garcia-Romero, a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists; and Laura Schellhardt, who oversees undergraduate playwriting at Northwestern University. A partnership with Chicago Dramatists, the Playwrights Unit meets twice per month with members of the Goodman's artistic team to discuss their plays-in-progress and provide feedback for one another. The program includes readings of the playwrights' works-in-progress at Chicago Dramatists in early 2014, and culminates in summer 2014 with staged readings of their completed works at the Goodman. Playwrights Unit alumni include Greg Allen, Alice Austen, Ike Holter and Christopher Oscar Peña (2012/2013 Season); Philip Dawkins, Nambi E. Kelley, Elaine Romero and Martin Zimmerman (2011/2012 Season); and Seth Bockley, Lisa Dillman, Laura Jacqmin and Rohina Malik (2010/2011 Season).

Today, Monday, October 14th at Mrs Murphy's Irish Bistro, Route 66 Theatre continues its Monthly Reading Series with WHERE YOU CAN'T FOLLOW, written by Adam Szymkowicz and directed by Matthew Miller, starring BriAnna Baker, Bruce Jarchow, Beth Lacke and Artistic Director Stef Tovar.

On Monday, October 14th at Mrs Murphy's Irish Bistro, Route 66 Theatre will continue its Monthly Reading Series with WHERE YOU CAN'T FOLLOW, written by Adam Szymkowicz and directed by Matthew Miller, starring Brianna Baker, Bruce Jarchow, Beth Lacke and Artistic Director Stef Tovar.

Route 66 Theatre Company has announced its 2014 season and its new residency at the Greenhouse Theater Center! Route 66's 2014 features the Chicago Premiere of CICADA by Jerre Dye and the World Premiere of THE DOWNPOUR by Caitlin Parrish, both directed by Associate Artistic Director Erica Weiss.

Natural Gas turns five years old in August. Nearly every Wednesday since August 2008, the house improv team of The Gift Theatre has taken one suggestion from the audience to create an entirely improvised world of comedy that is wild, randy and appropriately inappropriate. For the next month a roster of special guest improvisers will join Natural Gas Ensemble members Kyle Zornes, Dan Aho, Ed Flynn, Jim Kozyra, Joey Lesiak, Kirby O'Connell, Carly Olson, John Pantlind, Aemilia Scott, Amy Speckien and Michael Patrick Thornton on the Gift stage for world class Chicago improv in Jefferson Park.

Bailiwick Chicago Theater concludes its 2012/13 season with the world premiere of the family drama MAHAL by Resident Playwright Danny Bernardo, directed by Erica Weiss, playing June 26 - August 2, 2013 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. The cast of MAHAL includes F. Karmann Bajuyo, Patrick Byrnes, Joseph Anthony Foronda, Collective Member Kate Garassino, Jillian Jocson, Kevin Matthew Reyes and Blair Robertson. Scroll down for a first look at the cast in action!

Set in rural Mississippi, this coming-of-age ghost story revolves around a small Southern family on the verge of transformation. The unrelenting July heat presses in on seventeen-year old Ace and his mother Lily as they dig their way out of the past.

Set in rural Mississippi, this coming-of-age ghost story revolves around a small Southern family on the verge of transformation. The unrelenting July heat presses in on seventeen-year old Ace and his mother Lily as they dig their way out of the past.

Bailiwick Chicago Theater concludes its 2012/13 season with the world premiere of the family drama MAHAL by Resident Playwright Danny Bernardo, directed by Erica Weiss, playing June 26 - August 2, 2013 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are available at www.stage773.com, in person at the Stage 773 Box Office or by calling (773) 327-5252. Check out a first look below!

Bailiwick Chicago Theater concludes its 2012/13 season with the world premiere of the family drama MAHAL by Resident Playwright Danny Bernardo, directed by Erica Weiss, playing today, June 26 - August 2, 2013 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago.

New mother Mari has a devoted husband, a reassuring midwife and a mom who can't wait to babysit. But she can't shake the feeling that there's something strange about her newborn daughter. Chicago's The Gift Theatre Company births a world of new motherhood, where doubt and certainty blur, in the Chicago premiere of Laura Marks' thrilling, haunting and terrifying Mine, directed by Marti Lyons. Mine makes its Chicago premiere now through August 11, 2013, at The Gift Theatre, 4802 N. Milwaukee Avenue (at Lawrence) in Chicago. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below!

Bailiwick Chicago Theater concludes its 2012/13 season with the world premiere of the family drama MAHAL by Resident Playwright Danny Bernardo, directed by Erica Weiss, playing June 26 - August 2, 2013 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago.

Bailiwick Chicago Theater concludes its 2012/13 season with the world premiere of the family drama MAHAL by Resident Playwright Danny Bernardo, directed by Erica Weiss, playing June 26 - August 2, 2013 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are available at www.stage773.com, in person at the Stage 773 Box Office or by calling (773) 327-5252. The press performance is Friday, June 28 at 8 pm.

Summer 2013 will bring a wealth of new works to Chicago stages, closing out this season with some of the most exciting theater in the country, and holding Chicago's place as a leader on the national scene. Offerings from the city's more than 200 producing theaters includes a range of special summer programming, featuring everything from the latest musicals and highly anticipated world premieres to updated classics.

Bailiwick Chicago Theater concludes its 2012/13 season with the world premiere of the family drama MAHAL by Resident Playwright Danny Bernardo, directed by Erica Weiss, playing June 26 - August 2, 2013 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are available at www.stage773.com, in person at the Stage 773 Box Office or by calling (773) 327-5252. The press performance is Friday, June 28 at 8 pm.

Natural Gas, the house improv team of The Gift Theatre, begins its open run at The Second City this Sunday, April 21 at 8 p.m. The first installment, Natural Gas: Thornes, will be an entirely improvised two-man set starring The Gift Theatre artistic director Michael Patrick Thornton and Natural Gas Artistic Director Kyle Zornes (currently starring in Vigils at The Gift, directed by Erica Weiss).